Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1887-11-05

STRONG and slow, the breath OF a man in deeI
sleep
Should she try to waso him? What for
To tell him she was mutrlr ress and tier tc
let him sec her die. for instinct tol hel tina:
nature was exhausted; and she KIN W that sh"
was certainly going-going fast. No, a hun
drsd times, moi
Only she put her hand into her breast ani
drew out the pass, on the back Of which she
had written to him, and thrust it between his
listless fingers Itshould speak for her. Then
she leaned over him and watched his sleeping
face, very incarnation Of infinite, despaiIing
tenderness and love SHIT is deeper than the
grave. And as she watched gradually her
feet and legs grew cold and numb, till at
length she could feel nothing below her
hea1sm Ms was dad nearly TO the heart.
The rays OF the moon faded slowly from thc
level Of the little cave, and Johns face grew
dark to her darkening sight. She bent down
and kissed him once, twice. thrice
Then at last the end came There was
great flashing of light before her eyes. aud the
roaring as OF thousand seas within her ears.
and her head sank gently on her lovers br-ass
as on a pillow; and there she died and passed
upward toward the wider life and larger
liberty, or perchance downward into the
depths of an eternal sleep.
Poor dark eyed, deep hearted Jessi This
was the fruition Of her love and this bcr
tridal bed.
Ir was DONE She had gone. taking with
her the secret of her self sacrifice and crime,
and the night winds moaning amid the rocks
sang their requiem over her Here she first
had learned her love, and here she closed it's
book.
She might have been q great and good
woman. She might even have been a happy
woman. But fate had ordained it otherwise
Women such as she are rarely happy in the
world. It is not well TO stake all ones for
tune on q throw and lack the craft to load the
dice Well, her troubles are done with.
Think gently Of her" and Let her pass in
peace.
The hours grew ON toward the morning,
but John, the dead face Of the woman he had
loved still pillowed on his breast, neither
dreamed nor woke. There was strange and
dreadful irony in the situation, and one which
sometimes finds counterpart in our waking
life. but still the man slept and the dead
woman lay till the night turned into the
morning and the world woke up as usual
The sunbeams slid into the cave and played
indifferentiy upon the ashen face and tangled
curls and On the broad chest of the living
man whereon they rested. An old babooD
peeped round the rocky edge ond manifes ed
no surprise, only indignation. at the intrusion
of humanity, dead or alive, into his domin-
ions Yes, the world woke up as usual and
rocked not and troubled not because jess was
dead
1t vas SO accustomed to such sights.
And at last John woke up, too. He
stretched his arms and yawned, and then for
he o of
upon his breast. He glanced down and saw
dimly at first-then more clearly.
There are some things into which it Is
wisest not tn pry, and one of them is the first
agony of strong mans grief.
Happy was it for him that his brain did
not give way in that first lonely hour Of bot.
Jomiess despai.. But he lived through it, as
wc do live through such things, and was sane
and sound after it, though it left its mark
upon his life.
Two hours later a gaunt, haggard figure
came stumbling down the hillside toward the
site Of Mooifontein, bearing something in his
arms. Tho Whole place was i'll conmorion.
Hero nal there were knots of Doers talking
czctetii~, wro< wi.en they saw the man COM
in; hur.,ie VI t, Sc who i. was and wha. he
carrie. Dus when they knew they feu back
awcd a ID without n word, ard lie, t 20,
passed t!lrou'i h them without a word. For q
moment hc Ii STATED, realizing that the house
was burned down, and then turned into the
wagon shed and laid his burden down upon tho
saw bench OH which Franz; Muller hid sat an
judge upon the previous ,!ay.
Then at last he spoke in a hoarsc voice,
"Where il the old manl" One Of them pontsd
70 tie door OF tn, little room.
aOpen I'll" he said, 50 fiercely that they
again fell back and obeyed him without .
word
"Johni Jolnl' cried Silas Croft. "Thank
God you have come back to US from the
deall' and, trembling with joy and surprise,
he would have fallen upon his neck.
"Hush!" he answered; II have brought the
dead with me-"
And he led him to where she lay.
During the day the Beers all went and iefs
them alone No: that Frank Muller was
dead there was i,o thought among them OF
carrying out the sentence upon their old
neighbor. Besides, there was no warrant for
the execution, even had they desired so to do,
for their commau,lant had died leaving it un-
signed. So they held a sort Of informal In
quest upon their leaders body, and then
buried hun in the little graveyard that was
planted with tho four red gums, one at each
corner, and walled In ON the hillside at the
back Of where the house had stood Rather
than be at the pains Of following out another
they buried him in the very grave that no
had caused to be dug 10 receive the body Of
Silas Croft. tl| .@ .-
Who had murdered Frank Muller was and
remains Q mystery among them 70 this day.
Tho knife was identified by the natives about
the farm a. belonging to the Hottentoe
Jantjs, and q Hottentoe was seen running
from the place Of the deed and hunted for
some way, but could not be caught or heard
Of again. Therefore many Of them are Of the
opinion that he is the guilty man. Others,
again, believes that the crime rests upon the
shoulders Of the villainous one eyed Kaf1r,
Hendrix, his own servant, who had also mys-
terously vanished. But as they have never
found either of them, and are not likely to,
the point remains a moot one. Nor, indeed,
did they take any great pains to hunt for
them. Frank Muller was not popular char
acter, and the fact of a man coming to mys-
terious end does not produce any great sensa-
tion among q rough people and in rough